Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir is confident ruckman Sean Darcy will be ready to be the club’s starting ruckman in round one with former captain Nat Fyfe part of the midfield despite the pair not training with the main group when the Dockers returned from their Christmas break on Thursday.
Fyfe and Darcy both completed the warm-up before the midfielder moved indoors and the ruckman went to the outer side of the field to work with the rehab group.
Neither got through last season with Darcy requiring ankle surgery after an injury in July and Fyfe struggling with multiple foot problems before playing his last game in round 16. Darcy recently signed a new contract that will see him remain a Docker until the end of 2030.
Longmuir said Darcy’s recovery had taken longer than expected but he was still on track to join the main group in early February and play against Brisbane at Optus Stadium on March 17.
“I’m confident he’ll be there for round one,” Longmuir said.
“He’s going through his rehab program. That encompasses a lot of things but running is a big part of that ad building a fitness base is a big part of it. He’s slowly building his change of direction. He did a lot of jumping out there today.
“He’s progressing well. Once he hits training, it will take a little bit of time to get his match fitness up, but we expect him to be really fit by then.
“The plan is for Sean to be there as the number one ruck.”
Fyfe spent time taking part in match simulation in December and Longmuir said he would be part of those sessions again within the next week. He said all of the planning has been around Fyfe playing primarily as a midfielder in 2024, where his bigger body will be important, but he will also having some stints as a forward.
“He’ll be mainly mid. He complements the other guys well,” Longmuir said.
“Hayden Young went into the midfield late last year, gave us another bigger body in there as well which complemented the other mids. I feel like we’re starting to build some real depth through the middle of the ground with Erasmus and Johnson taking another step forward.
“He’s tracking really well. pre-Christmas he got into our match-sim so we’re expecting him to do a bit of match-sim when we start that up and build into full training. The likelihood is he will never get to full loads, but we will max out his loads in the not too near future.”
Meanwhile, the Dockers have invited former St Kilda wingman Daniel McKenzie to train with them as they look to fill two positions on their list.
McKenzie played 73 games for the Saints and was delisted at the end of last season.